Mar 29, 2012

According to Empire in an interview with Lundgren, he has confirmed that EX2 "it's now R again". He further added that "Stallone's basic setting is to make it very violent. That's just in his personality, and if it was me I would do the same."

Norris had first started the PG-13 rumor as he claimed not to want to make movies that had hard language in them, convincing the EX2 producers to tone the movie down to PG-13. Later Stallone confirmed the rumor through AICN which led to one of the biggest fan protests against the producers & Stallone. But, Dolph revealed in his interview that it was "actually a moot point for Norris, who has his own unique way of making his films accessible anyway. Chuck likes to re-cut all of his films before he shows them to his
kids. He told me he has his own editor. So it's
irrelevant! He could make it a G-rating if he wanted to!"

So if what Lundgren says about Norris is true, it confirms what the Blog had reported back in January when Norris gave his interview in Poland: he wasn't the one puling the strings but the producers instead. Norris was simply taking advantage of the situation to promote his new boyscout image. This is what Lundgren had to say about the producers confirming Norris wasn't really behind the decision: "I guess the producers figure they can make another $50m if it's PG-13,
and if it was my money I might say the same thing! But I think for the
fans, if it's tougher it's better."

The PG-13 nightmare seems to be all behind us, and thanks to Stallone it seems, who was able to convince the producers back to R. Stallone went from hero to sellout back to hero again in just 2 months!

Mar 27, 2012

Complex has published the list of 50 Best Action Stars In Movie History, and the list contains 8 of the EX2 Actors. The list is of course up for debate, is missing a few actors and contains a few that should not be there (IMO), but 8 out of 50 means 16% of all time Best Action Stars have screen time in EX2, not bad for a $100M movie!

You can find the complete list here. Below are the EX2 actors that were listed by Complex and their ranking.

Mar 25, 2012

I know this is not EX2 related, but we feel that The Tomb is almost like a spin-off of the Expendables, not really but the veteran action fans know what I mean.

Vinnie Jones has been confirmed for The Tomb. He told The Sun that The Tomb will "Start filming April 19 in New Orleans. Biggest
blockbuster of next summer – $120million budget. It's about three cons in prison looking to bust out. Come on Sweaty!"

This is old and was uploaded on YouTube back in February, but we didn't get the chance to report on it since the Blog was on strike. I find this short documentary on Van Damme and his participation in EX2 quite interesting specially because Goetz says a few words on Van Damme's role in EX2, how important he has taken it and that he perceives it as his last chance to revive his career. He also mentions that Van Damme's role is the most important after Stallone's so this should be good news for Van Damme's fans.

It was under the guidance of Claude Goetz that Van Damme joined the "Centre National De Karaté" at the age of 11 in Belgium. Van Damme trained for four years and he earned a spot on the Belgian Karate Team.

Mar 24, 2012

Pre-PG-13
protest, the Blog wrote a few articles where they tried to guess the name
of the EX character who dies in the movie as per the official synopsis.
The latest revelation by Couture where he gave a clue on his
participation in EX3 led me to conclude that although he was thought by
many to be one the most probable members of the team to die, the
possibility has become less likely.

So which EX character is ruthlessly assassinated by the villains?

To
answer the question, in my opinion, we need to break down a few
sequences of the movie starting from its end to the point where the EX
brother dies in the film.

Why the end? Because this is where the
clue will come from. If we believe the now famous speculation that some
sort of a large scale battle takes place in an airport (fragments seen
in the teaser Trailer) where the EX team helped by Trench
(Schwarzenegger), Church (Willis) & Booker (Norris) fights the
villains led by Jean Vilain (Van Damme), the EX who has survived all the
previous mischief to get to this point of the movie is obviously not
the brother who was brutally murdered and the rest of the team is seeking
to avenge. Trivial Watson?

So which actors who play an
EX character were seen on set when the crew was shooting the final
scenes of the airport battle? They were Stallone, Statham, Lundgren,
Crews, Couture & Nan (she's not a brother so we know she doesn't get
whacked).

Who's left? Li & Hemsworth!

Most fans think
Li is the chosen brother, his character if killed has a huge impact on the
team and justifies some serious bad ass revenge. Hemsworth on the other hand is the
newcomer and those don't get killed (generally speaking) in movies but
nothing is excluded. So who dies? Hard to say. If I had to pick I'd say
Hemsworth using my logic and Li using my gut feel.

Wait
a minute, am I not forgetting someone? What about Rourke? I know by
saying this most of you will call me a dumb sausage but I
don't want to write him off yet. For several reasons.

Remember
the very first leaked synopsis that was rejected by Stallone? Tool was
the EX member that was supposed to get zapped. I know Stallone said it
wasn't true, but between us after everything he's said, do we want to
believe him? remember the poster and how oddly the new synopsis
resembles the first one. I' not calling Stallone a liar at all, so Sly
fans please don't shoot me, all I'm saying is that nothing on EX2 has
been 100% transparent.

Although
Rourke publicly announced his disengagement in EX2 he made the statement that he would do a cameo in a movie that he could not disclose
the name. Plus he was seen with Stallone a day prior to the filming of
some of the scenes in New Orleans, coincidence you say? I beg to
differ.

Li,
Hemsworth or Rourke, make your call. I put my money on Rourke, but this
is me and not the opinion shared by all at the Blog.

Mar 22, 2012

Another interview with Couture where he throws an interesting piece of information out of nowhere that he's "probably gonna start shooting Expendables 3 here in the fall after Expendables 2 comes out in August." Simply WUNDERBAR, can't wait to see EX2 and now we get a taste of EX3 that it might be underway right after EX2, pinch me bitte!

Hallo,
my name is Gunter and I'm one of the new bloggers of the EX2 Blog team.

Lack of serious news, I decided to write a short refresher of the EX2 plot according to EX2 Blog. It's been a while since we lost touch with our readers so a refresher wouldn't hurt (discretion advised, possible mild spoiler!):

The
movie opens with a mission in Burma where the EX team, with Li but
without Statham, kick some serious bad guys ass to rescue one of the
biggest action icons of all times, Mr. Schwarzenegger himself held
captive in some dark places of Asia. It is unknown (to us) why the EX
team would risk their lives to save this old timer of mercenary knowing
that Barney (Stallone) and Trench (Schwarzenegger) are arch rivals. One thing is for sure, Trench will someday pay his debt back to the team.

Coming back from Burma, Mr. Church (Willis) forces Barney into a new mission that takes place in a fictitious Eastern European Country, to take on a seemingly simple job. Li declines to participate but the EX team with their newest members Billy the Kid (Hemsworth) and
Maggie (Nan) embark on a task that looks like an easy paycheck.

Things
go wrong and one of the EX members is viciously
killed by a team of opposing mercenaries led by a serious bad guy called
Vilain (Van Damme). The EXs are compelled to seek revenge. But they get
into serious trouble as the opposing force is stronger than anticipated
in a hostile
territory.

Church
gets together with Trench and Booker (Norris), a retired mercenary to
think of a plan to save Barney and his team from this doom.

Booker flies into the EX team rescue but his support will not be enough, Church and Trench have to join the battle.

The
final & epic battle takes place in an airport where Barney, Trench,
Church, Booker, Gunnar (Lundgren) are reunited to fight side by side
against Vilain and his henchman Hector (Adkins).

We will witness one of the most grandiose action scenes of all times where Stallone,
Schwarzenegger & Willis, the three action legends are firing guns side by side.

A final battle between Barney vs. Vilain, should wrap things up, more epic than ever thought.

Mar 20, 2012

So here we are, almost two months after we ceased EX2 Blog's activities to protest against the proposed PG-13 rating of the Expendables 2 movie, I officially announce the EX2 Blog's come back, as promised.

Ceasing EX2 Blog's activities was our way of joining the EX fan community to take action against the PG-13 rating of EX2 in order to push studios to release the movie with an R rating. It was a very hard decision but we did it for the EX fans who were angry and outraged by the PG-13 decision of studios who had chosen money & greed over the very fan base that had made the first movie so successful.

Over the past two months we have witnessed one of the largest levels of a fan community active participation to protest against a decision made by a movie studio. And fans triumphed and their perseverance was rewarded with a message by the key figure of the EX franchise, Stallone himself who despite having been labeled as a "Sellout" by fans has shown courage to announce through his no 1 fan site that EX2 "is an R".

Stallone's unofficial communique has not been further confirmed by any other official source but neither has it been denied. We could by now assume that permission to release EX2 with an R rating has been granted.

Congratulations to all the fans who believed in making this happen and fought consistently by making their voice heard on a number of forums and websites, by sending open letters to Stallone and the producers, by making posters and videos to encourage the movement, by dedicating their websites to allow fans to speak out...

It's been a remarkable movement and victory is well deserved.

I'd like to finish my first come back article with an amusing smile of the lead actress of EX2, Yu Nan. And Viva EX2-R.

Mar 19, 2012

The near future - Stallone is Ray Breslin, a filthy-rich prison-escapee-for-hire. He
likes to test out the high-security prisons that he’s designed by
attempting to break out of them.

For the past 8 years he has been breaking out of prisons on behalf of
the Federal Bureau of Corrections, to test how impenetrable and what
flaws might exist in the respective penitential. Man is an absolute
genius – smart as an internet entrepreneur and as tough as the bodyguard
hired to protect such a mastermind.

When the film opens – much to the chagrin of the grizzled old warden who
watches in dismay as one of his prisoners destroys cars and architecture
as he makes his way out of the prison.

That one, of course, was intended to be Ray’s last (the Bureau, namely
Breslin’s main contact ‘Clark’, is a little disappointed to hear that).

Breslin’s company is based out of a sleek, metal high-rise that
houses an office that screams ‘brain!’ what with the complex cubes and
various nerd puzzles adoring the shelves and the big guy’s desk. This
man can seemingly work his way out of any puzzle, let alone penal
complex.

He and loyal colleague Abigail (nice plum female lead role), a
twenty-something pretty blonde with brains as well as bodacious looks,
have been asked to do another job. Though reluctant and despite
Abigail’s discouragement, Breslin – and his $10m price tag – caves in.

The Bureau – namely, old friend ‘Clark’ – advise Breslin that he
won’t know anything about the next location they want him to break out
of. Though said to be a military establishment, the prison-cracker won’t
know any of the where’s or what’s.

Breslin ends up in ‘The Tomb’ – Guantanamo Bay 2.0, a private
facility that’ll open its doors – and quickly shut them – to whoever can
pay. It’s owned by a man named Hobbes.

On the inside, Breslin befriends a cheeky, muscular ex-military man by
the name of Swan (Schwarzenegger). Swan explains to his new friend that
all the prisoners have been sent to this particular establishment
because they’re all enemies of the state. They’ll remain in ‘The Tomb’
for interrogation and until the state decides what to do with them.
Meantime, Swan advises his new friend to watch his ass – and try not get
killed, because dead bodies lead to the cancellation of prison social
nights (classic Arnie!).

Prison Warden Hobbes (Jim Caviezel) and his main guard Drake are your typical ice-cold
’80s movie villains – hating on the ‘scum’ they have to cage. Oh, and
Drake is said to be ‘Australian’ – think Vernon Wells!

In order to get out – and help a few new friends, like Swan, escape
too – of the floating prison, Breslin has to arm himself with the one
thing that might just save his ass : His brain. In several sequences, we
get a “mind’s eye view” of Breslin working out the inner structure of
the prison – how the rooms are connected, what each room is wired or
built of, what machines and systems function in them; it’s a visual
schematic if you will.

I don’t want to tell you how it all turns out – though I guess any
fan of Sly and Arnie’s knows exactly where and how this thing ends,
right? What I will say is that this is the real deal. This is the combo
package of the great Sly and Arnie classics of years gone by – imagine
‘Ray Tango’ and ‘Dutch Schaefer’ teaming up (in fact, I wouldn’t be at
all surprised if Schwarzenegger’s character was inspired or rewritten to
be closer in character to his “Predator” hero) to take out the trash,
complete with the kind of verbal and tangible arsenal those guys became
famous for.

Stallone’s character is very decent, but Schwarzenegger’ Swan is the
first ‘real Schwarzenegger’ character we’ve seen in a long time – smart
quips, the ability to knock-out cold anyone with just a thrust of his
monstrous elbow, and armed with a monstrous gun… this is Dutch Schaefer,
prisoner. You’re gonna love it, guys.

“The Tomb” is, excuse my French, the mother fuckin’ Arnold/Sly
two-hander we’ve been waiting for. It’s not just a balls-to-the-wall
action extravaganza, but it’s a smart one – it’s smartly written with
fun characters, and a nifty mostly-original plot, but it’s also been
doused in the kind of old school popcorn ’80s actioner tone that “Tango
& Cash”, “Red Heat” and “Lock-Up” – to use a few Stallone examples –
causing a surge in protein powder sales.

Can’t wait to get a peek of Barry Chusid’s production designs, namely the floating prison – should look a treat.

Mar 18, 2012

According to Stallonezone EX2 will be rated R, and the confirmation seems to come from Stallone himself: “After taking in all the odd rumors and hearsay, EXPENDABLES II is an R.”

If true this is great news! But after all the claims & confirmation by Norris, Crews and Stallone himself that this movie was going to be PG-13, this is an odd revelation coming suddenly from Sly after months of silence.

Although I'm impatient to celebrate this news I still would like to wait for it to be more firmly confirmed. Stallonezone is usually a reliable source but their position and actions over the PG-13 controversy have been more than questionable.

I hope it's true, but let's wait a little more to be sure before we come back and cry victory. We have been silent for 2 months to protest, so we can wait a couple of days longer...